Tanya
by MonkeeVeggieGirl
Summary: Getting lost is never fun. Especially when it's in a foreign country, miles away from home. Thankfully the Monkees find a peaceful place to spend the night. Or at least, it was peaceful when they had first arrived. [Rated T for violence/gore]
1. Lost

**Author's Note: I got the idea for this story from Michael Nesmith's song, _Tanya_, and I just couldn't resist. I hope that you will enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it, and please notify me if you find any spelling errors or inconsistencies. Thank you, and have a groovy day.**

* * *

"Where are we?" Mike asked as he and his three friends trudged on through the forest. "Are you sure you're reading that map right?"

Micky, the one is change of finding their destination, squinted at the tiny print before answering. "Don't worry, Mike. I've got it covered. Or at least, I think so."

"Micky," Mike dodged a branch that Peter had moved out of his way and accidently sent flying in their leader's direction, "are we heading in the right direction?"

The curly headed drummer waved a hand at him in dismissal, not removing his hazel colored eyes from the map. "Just give me some time."

"We're in the middle of a bloody forest!" Davy protested as a frog whisked out his tongue and nabbed himself a helpless bug. "Our guide had said we would be in Nagoya in two days."

"And it's been two days."

"It's been three days." Peter corrected as he adjusted the backpack he was carrying.

Their drummer let out a small groan. "Just let me concentrate. It's not like we've ever been to Japan before."

As soon as Micky said this he considered apologizing, but his pride made him keep his mouth shut. Besides, they were all worn out from this long trip. Anyone would be. It was bad enough that someone in Japan, Japan of all places, had asked them to travel there as fast as they could. Just that alone is stressful. But when you count in the fact that Peter forgot the boat tickets that the mysterious man that wanted them to come over had sent them, having to stowaway, getting caught and forced to clean the decks the entire way, and the fact that now they were in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country, it makes you happy that you are not this luckless quartet.

But their navigator didn't have long to think about this, because Mike quickly snatched the map away from his fingers - which were almost always bandaged from building things - and looked over the map before letting out a sigh. "Micky...this map is in Japanese."

Peter's tired face turned into a large grin. "Micky can read Japanese? I didn't know that."

"Neither did I." Mike said with a hint of sarcasm.

The only Brit of the bunch groaned and leaned against a tree. "Why did you buy a map that's written in Japanese?"

Micky snatched the map back from Mike. "Oh, I don't know. Probably because we're in Japan, where everything is written in Japanese."

"Listen, man." Mike said in a softer tone. "Sorry if it seems like we're hounding on you. We're just," Mike paused to catch his breath. "We're just tired."

"I know, man." He didn't know why, but Micky suddenly felt the urge to explain about the map. "At first I just got it without looking at it, but when I saw that I couldn't read it, I just couldn't come out and tell you guys. And I thought that I could still make it out."

"Can you?" Peter asked, his eyes filled with hope.

"No." Micky closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "But I do know one thing."

"What's that?"

After putting on his crooked grin, Micky pulled out a book on Japan - one that he had gotten from the ship's gift shop - and skimmed through it until he found the page he was looking for and read aloud. "Mamushi is a venomous snake found in China, Japan, and Korea. Over 1,000 people are bitten by them every year."

As Peter shuddered upon hearing this, Mike crossed his arms. "And why are you telling us this?"

"No reason." His smile remained on his face as he pretended to keep reading. "There's just one climbing down that tree Davy is next to."

Before his brain could even register what was happening, the youngest Monkee leapt away from the tree and fell onto the ground. And sure enough, a snake was slithering down the trunk. While his adrenalin slowly began to fade away, he heard Micky chuckling to himself before bursting into that hiccupping type laugh he has. As you can imagine, Davy was not laughing with him.

"What's so funny?" Davy quickly got up and began dusting himself off. "Maybe I should have been bitten to give you a real good laugh."

For a moment Micky had to hold his hand up, to show that he needed a moment to calm himself down, and once he did he explained. "Don't worry, man. That wasn't a Mamushi. It was some kind of non-venomous snake."

Davy turned and watched the said snake reach the ground and move its slim body into some foliage, where he - or she - disappeared from sight. "It still wasn't funny, man."

"But it did make us forget about the fact that we're lost."

Davy chuckled slightly at his friend's strange logic. Why did Micky have to go from one extreme to another? Quiet one minute, and jumping around like a madman the next.

"Come on, guys." Mike told them. "We're not getting to Nagoya by goofing off."

This is how it always was with them. If they ever had an argument, one or more of the four musicians would do something to ease the tension. After that they forget they ever fought and continued about their business. Many people found this odd. Like the time the four boys had a fight that made everyone think it was going to end with a brawl, but instead ended with the Monkees laughing, with their arms around each other's shoulders. This was probably one of the many reasons why they often times got funny looks from people, because they just didn't understand that that was how their friendship worked.

Soon enough the quartet were walking again. With Mike appointed the new navigator, leaving Micky to look through his 'Japanese for Dummies' book, only to find that it only contained simple translations for words like, "Lovely weather we're having", "Do you speak English", and "Where's the bathroom?" Even still, Micky muttered the Japanese words quietly to himself, because of his love of learning different languages. Davy, however, couldn't shake off that snake incident and kept looking around for more. He wasn't much of the outdoorsman, having grown up in a large house - a mansion almost - in England and then moving to the pad with his band mates. He was okay with your normal run-of-the-mill dog or cat, but he tried to keep his distance from animals that might potentially turn on him. Peter was probably the only one of the bunch enjoying the scenery. He couldn't help but gaze at the tall trees that surrounded them like protective arms as sunlight tried to seep through. As he continued to stare in awe at the forest around him, he couldn't help but hear something that sounded like running water.

"Hey, guys." Peter stopped and looked at his fellow band mates, but they were too distracted and didn't notice. "Guys, I think I hear something."

"Right, Pete." Mike said, in the tone he always used when he wasn't really listening.

For a moment Peter looked at the direction he had heard the water noises, and then he ran over to Micky, who had his nose buried in his book. "Micky, I heard something."

"Hey, Pete, suisoku o toru."

Peter's eyebrows lowered to the top of his hazel eyes, giving him a look of confusion. "What does that mean?"

"Take a guess."

"Have a nice day?"

Micky rolled his eyes and continued on with his reading, leaving his friend to wonder what had caused his reaction. And as his friends walked ever deeper into the woods, the young bassist found himself wondering what he should do. If he kept following them, he might not be able to find the noise again. But he also couldn't go wondering off without them. The sound was probably nothing. It could even be his own imagination for all he knew. But right when he was about to follow his friends, Peter heard the noise again. If he didn't find out what it was, that sound was going to haunt him all day. There was only one thing he could do.

"Look at the chick carrying a snake."

"Where?!" Both Davy and Micky said in unison as they all turned toward their friend, Micky turning because of his love of women, Davy turning for the same reason but also because he was rapidly developing a dislike for snakes, and Mike turned because what Peter had said made no sense.

Peter smiled his dimpled smile, happy that he finally got their attention, before pointing toward where the sound was coming from. "I heard something coming from over there."

"Peter!" All of his friends said at the same time, Micky and Davy disappointed that there was no girl while Mike saw this as yet another delay.

"I'm sorry, guys." Peter said sincerely. "But what if it's something important?"

"There's nothing important in this place." Mike said before letting himself give in. If he didn't, Peter would just keep going on about it. "Alright. Let's check it out."

Peter's smile grew as he headed toward the sound. "Right this way!"

As he led them past the tall trees and various wildlife, Peter felt his chest fill up with pride and authority. It wasn't often that his friends followed his directions, and it felt great to be the leader for a change. Not that he would want to be the leader all the time. He enjoyed following Mike - or Micky when Mike wasn't around - and he didn't mind being the caboose on the train. But it was nice to act as leader every once in a while, even if this turned out to be the first and last time.

After walking deeper and deeper into the foliage, all of the other Monkees began to hear it too, and admitted that it did indeed sound like running water. As if someone had taken a hundred, if not a thousand, kitchen sinks and turned them all on at once. As they got closer to it, the trees began to thin out little by little until they stopped entirely, leaving the Monkees standing on a ledge, looking at the largest waterfall they had ever seen. But of course, it was the only waterfall they had ever seen.

"Look!" Peter said excitedly. "A rainbow!"

Mike looked at the colors that hung beautifully in front of the running water and smiled. "It sure is."

But they didn't have any more time to admire it's magnificence, because Micky suddenly let out a strange cross between whelp and a scream as he fell over backwards and landed on the wet grass.

Davy chuckled. "Now who's scared of the snakes?"

"THAT THING NEARLY KILLED ME!" Micky shouted in panic as he pointed to the tree he was next to just a moment before, showing them the arrow that was now piercing it.

Mike quickly pulled it out and looked the weapon over. "Where did this come from?"

"Hey, Mike." Peter said, looking into the distance. "I think that girl is waving at us."

All of the Monkees leaned over the ledge and saw that down and across the water was a girl, wearing a white shirt with long sleeves, baggy red pants held up with a ribbon of the same color, and holding a bow in her hand. And indeed, at first glance, it looked like she was waving to them. But soon they realized that she was trying to tell them something, but was drowned out by the raging waterfall.

"What should we do?" Davy asked.

"We might as well see what she wants." Without waiting for their opinion on the matter, the tall Texan began to carefully make his way down the ledge.

The other Monkees, however, all looked at each other and wondered if it was safe to go straight towards the chick that just shot at them. But of course, if she wanted to kill them, she would have done so already. Right? That's what they had to tell themselves as they followed their leader.


	2. Temple

It wasn't that difficult to make their way toward the female archer. They did slip and slide a bit while making their way down the steep slope, but once they made it to the bottom they discovered a bridge that led from their end to where the chick was. Once across, they walked over to her. She was rather plain looking. Her long black hair was shining from moisture and sticking to her face, and her brown bloodshot eyes had bags under them.

"Gomenasai!" The girl said as she bowed, and then she continued speaking in her language at a fast pace, the worried look never leaving her face.

Mike quickly held up his hands. "I'm sorry, miss, but we don't understand Japanese."

"I do." Micky said before letting out a few nervous chuckles upon seeing the looks on his friend's faces. "Well, I know how to ask directions to Mount Fuji."

"Do you understand English?" Davy asked the girl.

She nodded frantically, making the sweat on her brow travel down her face. "Yes, I do." The archer turned toward Micky and bowed. "I didn't see you up there. I am so sorry."

"It's no problem at all." Mike answered for his friend. "It's not like the arrow hit him or anything."

The girl's eyes grew wide for a moment, as if realizing just now that the arrow could have actually injured someone, and then she blushed and lowered her head. The Monkees all exchanged glances. What could they say in this kind of situation? And it didn't look like she was about to let this incident be forgotten anytime soon.

"We're lost." Davy told her, breaking the silence. "Do you know how we could get to Nagoya?"

The girl looked up at them again. "Nagoya? Is that where you're heading?"

"Yes." Davy asked Mike for the map and then showed it to the girl. "Where are we now?"

She pointed at a spot in the middle of a forest, quite a long ways away from their destination. "It will take you at least two days to travel by foot." When the four young men all let out a groan, the archer bowed her head again. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry." Peter reassured her, not wanting her to beat herself up over something that couldn't be helped. "It's not your fault."

Mike let out a sigh. "Is there anyplace nearby where we can camp out?"

"Only the temple." She answered quietly. "But our high priestess doesn't like visitors."

"She sounds like great company." Micky muttered sarcastically.

"We just want to spend the night." Mike said, ignoring Micky's remark. "Can we just talk to her?"

At first the girl looked like she was going to say no, but after a few moments she slowly nodded her head. "Follow me."

While on their way to the temple, the Monkees gazed in wonder at their surroundings. A well-kept garden flourished as young women tended to it. Children ran around playfully, holding plants and sticks that they had found near the water. And two girls rushed happily by, one of them holding a fishing rod with a large fish dangling from the hook.

"What a lovely place this is." Davy said aloud.

"Why are all of you wearing the same clothes?" Peter asked, noticing that every girl - even the children - were wearing the same white shirt and red pants that the archer was currently wearing.

"We all have to wear it." She answered. "We are all priestesses, after all."

Micky did a double take. "All of you?"

She didn't answer, and instead continued on in silence. As they walked, Mike continued to look around. But as he did, he saw a girl. The reason why she caught his attention was because instead of the 'priestess' uniform everyone else had on, this one had on a kimono that was white from top to bottom. But before he could get a clear look at her a group of girls holding books and chatting to each other passed by, blocking his view. And when they walked past and Mike was able to look at where the girl was again, she was gone. At first he thought that this was rather strange, but he soon forgot about it when the archer announced that they had arrived at the temple. It was a magnificent building. It rested on top of wooden beams, had dark red and black roofs, and looked like it had many rooms.

"Come this way." The girl told them as she walked down the stone path.

They made like they were going to follow her, but when they saw that Peter was planted in place with his mouth hanging open, Davy pushed his blond friend's chin upward, causing it to close. Though they didn't blame him for gawking. All of them wanted to fully register this place. They all went up some stairs and then walked down the walkway that was like a long deck that led to all of the many rooms in the building until they came to a door that the archer slid open. Inside was a large room, lit by candles and furnished with only pillows and a few toddler sized tables that held paper and ink. On one of the pillows sat another young woman, wearing the priestess uniform and had her black hair in a bun that hung loosely, allowing the rolled up hair to reach her shoulders.

The female archer put her hands in her wide sleeves, raised her arms up, and then bowed her head. "Good evening, High Priestess."

With a perfect poker face plastered on, the priestess looked at the Monkees with eyes that somehow made the four boys shiver before turning back to the archer. "Kinu, why is your hair down?"

Kinu suddenly looked panicked as she ran her hand over the wet strands. "I-it was hot, and it came loose. And then it was too difficult to put back up." When the high priestess looked away from her, Kinu suddenly fell to her hands and knees and bowed her head as low as she could. "I'm so sorry, High Priestess!"

While still on her hands and knees, the young girl backed up until she was outside the doorway and then closed the sliding door shut, leaving the Monkees with the stone faced priestess. At first she acted like they weren't even in the room. Slowly she walked over to where the small tables were, picked one of them up, and then placed it down by her pillow. This made the quartet feel very uneasy, as you can imagine. And as she began writing something on the paper with what looked like a wooden paintbrush, they couldn't help but wonder if she was sending a request for guards to come in and throw them out.

As she continued to write, the priestess spoke in a tone that made them know that she was in control. "You will stay here for the night. But I want you to leave at first light."

All of the Monkees replied at once - saying words like, "Yeah, Sure.", "We understand.", and "We didn't mean to trouble you." - while nodding their heads and using exaggerated hand gestures. But when she looked up at them they all stopped and coughed nervously.

Finally, after looking them over like a piece of steak that had gone bad, she went back to her writing. "Chika."

"Yes, High Priestess?" The Monkees jumped suddenly when they saw another girl - her hair in two buns that were kept in place with chopsticks - standing right next to them. When did she get there?

"Please take them to the baths and then show them to their rooms."

Chika's thin lipped smile grew wider as she placed both hands in her sleeves and bowed like Kinu had done. "As you wish, High Priestess."

As silent as a ghost, this new girl opened the door and walked out, not waiting for the Monkees to catch up. But the four boys knew better than to stay in this room with the high priestess, and soon found themselves chasing after her. Once they stepped out, they saw that the sun was setting in the sky, and that Chika was in fact waiting for them a few feet away while holding a lantern. Where did she get it?

"Follow me, if you please." She said in a soft and polite voice. "The baths are right this way."

"Actually," Mike held up his hand. "Would it be alright if I just get some rest?"

Chika bowed her head. "As you wish, follow me, uh..."

"Mike. Mike Nesmith."

She smiled. "Right this way, Nesmith-kun."

"Just Mike is fine." He told her as he walked toward her, telling Chika that he was ready to leave.

As they began to make their way toward the rooms, Peter chased after them. "I'll come with you!"

After a few steps, Chika stepped aside to let Mike and Peter walk past before turning to the two remaining Monkees. "The baths are down that way. Just keep going straight, turn left, and then turn left again at the doorway."

"Thanks." Davy said as Chika and his two friends walked away. "Well, man...it's just you and me."

Micky was silent for a moment before saying, "I'm not so sure about that."

The drummer pointed cautiously toward a bush that was only about a foot away from them, and in that bush they could see what looked like a pair of eyes, blinking at them. The remaining Monkees looked at each other, then at the bush, and then hurried down the walkway, hoping to get away from those prying eyes. And soon enough, they found themselves at the baths. It was a room made up of both wood and stone and steam warmed up their bodies as they looked at the hot water that was surrounded by rocks and plants.

"Do we just go in, then?" Davy asked.

Micky chuckled. "You don't have to ask me twice!"

The young British boy shrugged and grabbed his shirt, intending to take it off, but he stopped when he heard a giggle, followed by even more giggles. He looked up and saw that there was a sort of window - which was wide horizontally and short vertically - and peering through the opening were at least seven priestesses, all trying to cover their mouths to stifle their laughs. Not wanting an audience, Davy let go of his shirt and walked out the way he had come in. Micky, however, loved the idea of girls fawning over his physique and quickly took his short off, only to find that the girls had already left.

* * *

Mike couldn't sleep. Maybe it was because their beds were like flimsy sleeping bags that were placed on the hard floor. Or maybe it was the fact that he was thinking too much about getting to Nagoya on time for the gig. Whatever the reason, the slender man made his way out of the room, while making sure not to disturb Peter, and placed his hands on the railing outside while he watched the stars begin to appear and a group of girls talking to themselves. He could see almost everything from up here on the second floor. While he was doing so, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of something black, but it was gone before he could focus on it.

"I need to get some rest." He told himself as he rubbed his tired eyes.

But as he started to make his way back, he heard someone singing. It was in Japanese, but he could still hear the lovely melody and how it sounded both happy and sad at the same time. Was it one of the priestesses? Mike walked toward the voice, hearing the floorboards creak under his feet, until he came upon the girl in white he had seen earlier. Except now she was standing on the railing, had her hands to her chest, and she continued to sing the haunting tune.

"It's not safe up there." Mike told her. "You could fall off and hurt yourself."

The woman in white, he long hair dancing in the breeze, looked at him with pale blue eyes. "Richard."

"Why are they always getting my name wrong?" He muttered, remembering Ellen Farnsby, who kept calling him 'Jeffery'. Not to mention all the times people have gotten Nesmith wrong. "I'm Mike."

The girl continued to stare before looking once again at the scenery. "I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. It's-"

He was cut off when the woman in white suddenly let out an ear-piercing scream, turned around toward the building, and then slipped off the railing and fell down toward the ground below.

"Miss!" Mike ran to the railing, hoping that she landed in a way that wasn't life threatening, and saw that she wasn't there. Somehow the woman in white had disappeared.

"What is it, Mike?" Peter asked worriedly as he ran over to him.

"It, uh...it was nothing, Pete." He told him while still searching the place where she would have landed until deciding that he wasn't going to find her. "Let's go back to bed."


	3. Missing

After tossing and turning for what felt like hours - even though it was only a few minutes - Davy finally rolled onto his back and opened his eyes, only to find a woman's face only inches away from his, her eyes closed and a toothy grin that would give children nightmares for weeks. He quickly let out a whelp and crawled backwards away from her, which woke up his three band mates, and tried to calm down when he saw who it was.

"Chika, what are you doing here?" He asked, while trying to get his breathing and heartbeat to slow down.

Chika grabbed the lantern she had placed beside her before lightly covering her mouth with her fingertips, which were covered with her long sleeve, as she laughed softly. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you. I just couldn't help but admire the way you all sleep so differently."

"What do you want?" Micky asked grumpily while rubbing his eyes. He was never much of a morning person.

"One of our priestesses is missing." She replied a bit too cheerily.

Peter quickly sat bolt upright, worry clouding his face. "Missing?!"

"She probably just lost track of time. But just to be safe, we are organizing a search."

"And you want us to help you look?" Micky asked, not loving the idea of getting up.

The smiling priestess cocked her head to one side. "If it isn't too much trouble."

"Alright," Mike said as he started to get up. "We'll help you out."

"While you do that," Micky said while getting back under the covers. "I'm going back to bed."

"Come on, man." Peter shook his friend's shoulder. "What if she's lost or something?"

"You guys go ahead, and you can tell me all about it when you get back."

He didn't get to go back to sleep, however. Because Mike grabbed Micky's blanket and pulled it off of him, exposing the Monkee to the cold night air. It took some time, but eventually the tired drummer agreed to join them in their search for the missing priestess, and soon all of them were following Chika out the door, her lantern leading the way with its warm glow.

"What do you think happened to her?" Peter asked worriedly.

"Maybe," Chika paused and then turned slowly around to reveal her face, which was being lit by the lantern in a way that terrified the four young men. "She was eaten by Tanya's ghost."

"Don't do that." Mike told her.

Peter shivered. "Tanya's ghost?"

"That name doesn't sound very Japanese." Micky pointed out.

Chika's smile grew before she continued to walk on. "She was from America, like yourselves, and she came here with her fiancée. She was fascinated by Japanese culture. But one day, her body was found floating in the water, with a look of utter terror on her pale face."

"What happened to her?" Davy asked as Peter let out a whimper.

"No one knows. They think that it was her fiancée, because he went missing before her body was found. But soon after that, a monk was found dead near where Tanya's body was, and rumors began to spread, saying that Tanya's vengeful spirit targeted men, because they reminded her of the one man that had murdered her." She turned to look at the looks on the Monkees' faces. "That's why only women live here. Because men are afraid of being eaten."

All of the Monkees gulped. They didn't believe in ghosts - or at least, they didn't think they did - but it was still a frightening thought. And it being the middle of the night and the way that Chika told this ghost story didn't help them feel any better. Even Mike had to admit that he felt shivers walking up and down his spine, and Peter looked like he was going to cry. Now it would be even harder for them to get any sleep.

"Where's Kinu?" Peter asked, suddenly worried that she might be the priestess that went missing.

Chika led them down the stairs that took them to the first floor of the building. "She's serving punishment for letting her hair down."

Micky rubbed his arms, trying to fight off the cold of a gust of wind that had suddenly passed through them. "Punishment for something like that?"

"We must only let our hair down when we are washing it or when we are going to bed."

"What's the punishment?" Davy asked.

"Death."

All of the Monkees stopped in their tracks. Could someone be executed for something like that? But of course, after remembering the high priestess and how cruel her eyes looked, the possibility slowly became more and more plausible.

Chika laughed, "I'm only kidding. She is washing the floors." and then she grabbed one of the sliding doors and opened it. "Isn't that right, Kinu?"

The four musicians peeked into the room, wondering if she really was in there, but Kinu was nowhere in sight. In fact, the only things in the room were a wet cloth, candles, and a bucket full of soapy water. Chika also looked into the room, her grinning face replaced with one of curiosity, before sliding the door shut. For a long moment she kept her hand on the door, her eyebrows lowered in thought, and then her grin quickly returned, as if it had never happened.

"Let's search by the garden first."

* * *

The sun slowly made its way back into the sky as Mike pulled off his wool hat and sat on a large rock. He didn't know how long they had been searching. Or how long ago Chika had suggested they split up to cover more ground. All he did know was that his feet were sore and his eyes hurt whenever he blinked. Once again he rubbed his face, trying to make himself feel more awake, and then he let out a sigh. While he did hope the priestess would be found soon, he also couldn't help but think about his bed back at the pad. After thinking about it for awhile, the leaky faucet and Mr. Babbit hounding them for the rent money didn't seem so bad. But this was no time for daydreaming. Somewhere out there was a girl who needed to be found. But when he reached down to grab his hat, which he had placed on the rock he was sitting on, he saw that it was missing.

"Kawaii!"

The Texan looked around until he saw a little girl - wearing the priestess shirt and pants and had two buns on either side of her head with yellow ribbons - that was hugging his hat. "Where did you-?"

"Kawaii!" She said again as she hugged it tighter.

"Can I please have my hat back?"

The little girl suddenly looked up at him as if just noticing that he was there while she blinked continuously. "Nani?"

"Yes, my hat." Mike said, assuming that "nani" meant hat. "Can I please have it back?"

At first she looked at the hat questioningly, and then back at Mike, as if trying to decide what to do. Then she took a step toward the Monkee, as if going to him to return the wool hat, but suddenly took off laughing, holding the hat high up over her head like a kite. It didn't take long for Mike to begin chasing after her, and as he did he wished that Davy or Micky were here. Those two were the best with kids. In fact, they would even sometimes watch kids for people to earn a little extra money when they needed it. But they weren't here now, so all Mike could do was run after this child and hope that he could catch up with her. But the more they ran, the more it seemed like she was getting further and further away, the child's giggles starting to fade as the distance between them increased.

"Hold it, shotgun!" Mike cried out tiredly, his legs getting heavier and heavier with each step.

Finally, after what felt like eternity, the small thief ran to a large bush and crawled on her hands and knees through its leafs. This was Mike's chance. He plowed through the foliage until he found her, standing perfectly still near the running water, the wool hat in her hand.

Mike stepped forward as he grabbed a branch that had stuck onto his shirt. "Are you ready to give me my hat back now?"

The little girl turned her head to look at him and then pointed into the distance. "Nani sore?"

Mike's eyes followed where the girl's finger was pointing, and on the other side of the water he saw something that was red and white. Could it be the missing priestess?

"Stay here." He told the child, hoping she understood, as he went into the chest deep water and began crossing.

The current wasn't too strong, so it didn't take him long to trudge through the running water. And when he made it to the other side he saw that, sure enough, it was a priestess, laying on the ground, her back facing Mike. Had she fallen asleep? Was she hurt? Or . . . He quickly ran over to her and grabbed her shoulder, intending to shake her to see if he got a response. But as soon as he touched her, she rolled onto her back, revealing that all of the skin and flesh in the front of her body was almost completely gone. Mike quickly rolled her over back-up, not wanting to look at it anymore.

"Oh my."

Mike looked up and saw that Chika was standing over the corpse and quickly asked, "When did you get here?"

"Poor girl." She said with what sounded like mock sympathy. "I wonder if she saw it coming."

The guitarist was about to say something to her about showing more respect, and to ask why she didn't seem to care that this girl was dead, but was unable to because he suddenly heard the voices of his friends, who were all calling for him as they came closer. As they did, Mike worried about Peter. He was too sensitive for something like this. After thinking about it he thought of the little girl and looked in the direction where he had left her, but she was gone, along with his wool hat.

"You found her?" Micky asked, seeing only the part of the girl that was still intact.

Peter began walking toward her. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine, Pete." Mike lied before turning to Chika, even though he felt anger build up inside of him from just looking at her. "Could you please take him back to the temple? And tell everyone what's happened."

Chika bowed her head, "As you wish, Nesmith-kun." and then she asked Peter to follow her back.

At first he didn't want to as he wondered if the girl facedown in the grass was alright, but after looking at Mike's face he reluctantly left with the priestess. When their footsteps were covered with the sound of cicadas buzzing in the trees, Mike explained to the other two Monkees about the little girl stealing his hat, finding the priestesses body, and Chika's lack of emotion to the whole thing. After that he flipped the body over, showing his friends what had happened to her, and both of them took on looks of disgust, and Davy thought he was going to throw up.

"What could have done something like that?" Davy asked after Mike put the corpse belly-down again.

"What kind of big animals live around here?"

"I'll check." Micky said and grabbed the same book he had with him in the woods from his pocket.

The Brit uneasily paced back and forth. "What are we going to tell Peter?"

"I don't know, man." Mike answered honestly. "We'll probably just tell him we found her dead."

"And leave out the lack of body parts." Davy finished. "Otherwise Peter will have nightmares for weeks."

"If not years."

"Zilch." Micky said as he closed his book. "There aren't any animals around her that would do it."

"Not even a bear?" Davy asked.

"I don't think one would leave the back of the body and bones intact." Mike answered.

Micky shrugged. "Maybe he wasn't in the mood for baby back ribs." He tried to laugh at his joke, but the looks on Mike and Davy's faces made him stop.

"Let's head back to the temple." Mike told them. "Maybe we can get some answers there."


	4. Facts

Many tears flowed when the Monkees delivered the grave news about their fellow priestess, and everyone made preparations for the girl's funeral. The four boys helped when they could. They gathered wood for the bonfire, carried the body - which was covered with a cloth to hide her appearance from those of weak stomachs - and as she began to burn to ashes, the Monkees got together and sang _Shades of Gray_. As the flames began to die down, everyone bowed their heads, crying and allowing their lips to tremble. Everyone except for Chika and the high priestess. Chika, through the entire process, stood by and watched. As if everyone was doing a play on stage. While the high priestess stared at the fire with a blank expression, her hands always in her sleeves. And Kinu - who was found alone in the gardens when the news spread - utterly lost herself, falling to her knees and screaming out. After the priestesses paid their respects, they all headed back to the temple while rubbing their red and puffy eyes. Leaving the Monkees, who stayed with the bonfire in silence.

"What should we do now?" Davy finally asked, saying what they were all thinking.

"We could get some marshmallows." Micky said, noticing that some of the flame still remained.

"Would you please be serious for a moment! That girl is dead!"

"I know that!" Micky protested and then said more softly, "I know..."

Peter, who hadn't said a word since he had heard that the girl they found wasn't alive anymore, was the only one who didn't feel angry upon hearing Micky's jokes in this kind of situation. He knew why he did it. It was like a reflex. Whenever something that Micky couldn't control was happening, he would try to say something funny. Maybe it was his way of denying that bad things were happening. Or maybe it was how he coped with what was going on. Peter didn't know for sure. And right now he didn't want to think about it. He just wanted to go back to the pad. It was easier to grieve in a place he knew well.

"We gotta find out what happened to her." Mike announced. "We owe it to her."

Peter sniffed. "We don't even know her name."

There was a long pause before their leader continued. "We should do an investigation."

"You mean the crime scene?" Davy asked.

"That. And we should interview everyone."

Micky scoffed. "Which will take, what, forever?"

"Not if we split up." Mike stood up, taking control. "Peter, go find Kinu. She was missing last night, remember? Ask her where she was."

Even though a part of Peter just wanted to stay here until they went home, the part of him that wanted to see justice prevail took over and he soon found himself running off, heading for the direction he had seen Kinu go after the funeral.

"Davy," Mike continued. "You can talk to the high priestess."

"Why me?!" The last thing Davy wanted to do was talk to that heartless chick.

"It has to be you, Davy. You have a way with women."

"Not women like her."

Next Mike turned to Micky. "And you can go find Chika."

"Great." Micky said sarcastically with an eye roll.

Davy got up to go find the high priestess, but stopped and turned to Mike. "What about you, Mike?"

"I'm hoping I can find that little girl I saw."

"You think she knows something?"

"Probably not. But even if she doesn't," Mike touched the top of his head. "it would be nice to get my hat back."

Davy chuckled slightly, "Alright, man." before all three went their separate ways.

* * *

Soon enough, Peter found the suspect he was sent to interview, who was once again at the gardens. Kinu was now holding herself tightly, trying to control her sobs. The blond bassist began to retreat, not wanting to bother her, but deep down he knew that they needed to find out what had happened to the priestess who's life was cut short.

Slowly he walked over to her. "Are you okay?"

Kinu slowly turned toward him, her face wet and her teeth clenched, before once again falling to her knees. "Why did it have to happen?! I tried! I tried!"

"It isn't your fault." He said honestly.

The crying priestess covered her face with her hands. "I could have done something! I wasn't there in time!"

Peter didn't know what to do. Should he keep talking to her? Hug her? Or did she want to be left alone? Finally he decided to just sit next to her. Not touching her, but close enough that she knew he was there for her, and he stayed there while she mourned her fellow priestess while cheery blossoms fell from the sky like pink colored snowflakes.

* * *

It took a bit of searching to find the high priestess, but eventually he saw her, regally pulling back the string of her bow before letting the arrow sail through the air before hitting a wooden dummy in the neck. Davy gulped. This was not a chick you wanted to mess around with. While he started working up his courage, the priestess looked his way, her eyes as cold as ice in Antarctica. It was now or never. The Monee stepped forward, hoping that she wouldn't shoot him.

"Uh, hi."

She blinked once at him, and then looked back at the dummy as she pulled out another arrow. "I have a job for you."

Davy was caught off guard by what she had just said to him. "We, we wanted to figure out what happened to-"

"This comes first." The high priestess fired another arrow, which hit the dummy where the heart would be. "Tonight I want you and your friends to patrol the grounds."

"I guess we could do that." Davy scratched his head. "I'll have to talk to them about it. They might not-"

"It's an order." She told him harshly before hitting the dummy once again with an arrow. This time in the face.

* * *

Chika was sitting quietly in her room when Micky found her. She was sitting on a pillow, surrounded by papers that she had written on while she wrote yet another one for her collection. As he watched from the doorway, he saw that Chika was very graceful with that paintbrush. She smoothly moved the bush without spilling even a speck of ink, and was done and working on another piece of paper in what felt like only seconds.

After watching her brushstrokes, he lightly tapped on the door with his knuckles and coughed. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Chika looked up, smiled, and then gently placed the brush back in the inkpot. "Come in."

Micky hesitated for a moment, but eventually did so and sat down on a pillow across from her. "I, uh, would like to ask you some questions about this morning and last night."

"You mean when we found poor Tamaki?" Again, she spoke with mock sympathy.

The drummer tried to pay no attention to it as he asked his first question. "Did you have anything against the priestess we found dead?"

"No." She answered with a hint of boredom.

Micky's temper began to rise. "Then why are you acting like you don't care?"

"I do care. Her death was fun."

Micky froze in place. Did he just hear her right. "How can you say that?"

Chika thoughtfully placed a finger on her lips. "Maybe 'fun' isn't the right word. Entertaining, maybe...exciting...?"

"How can you say that about somebody who just died?!" Micky demanded, standing up to his full height.

The priestess let out an exaggerated sigh and shrugged. "I thought you of all people would understand."

"I don't find death 'fun'!"

She grinned and placed her chin in the palm of her hand. "Of course you do. Do did joke about it to your friends, right?"

"How did you know about that?" He asked, upon realizing that she was nowhere in sight when he had made those jokes when her body was found and after she was burned.

Her thin lipped smile grew as she exposing her teeth, and then she said nothing more.

* * *

Mike had no idea where to look. With all the different girls of different ages coming and going, it was like finding a needle in a haystack. He searched the grounds, the rooms, the place where he found her, the place he found the body - even though he doubted that she would be able to cross the water by herself - and finally he decided to head for places he hadn't been before. The first place he came to was some kind of shrine. It was larger than the whole pad and almost entirely empty, which made it look even bigger. And at the far side of the room there was a giant Buddha statue, and close to it was a golden dragon.

"They're beautiful." The guitarist jumped when he saw that the woman in white was standing right next to him, a beautiful smile on her youthful face. "Don't you think so, Richard?"

Without thinking, Mike said automatically, "I guess."

"That's what you say about everything." She laughed before grabbing Mike's arm lovingly. "But that's one of the things I love about you."

"Look, miss. I'm sorry, but I'm not-" Mike tried to push her off his arm, but as soon as he had touched her she vaporized into a white mist and disappeared. "All this ghost stuff just had to happen to me."

Mike started to make his way toward the exit. But before reaching it he remembered Chika's ghost story. About a girl named Tanya who was supposedly murdered by her husband. The same ghost that was said to eat men. Mike shook his head at that last bit. It was a girl that was found dead. A priestess. And if she really did eat people, she already passed up two chances to attack him. And there was no proof that she was even Tanya. First he would have to find out Tanya's fiancée's name. If it was Richard...

"Are you praying?"

Mike looked down and saw that the little girl, who was now wearing his wool hat, was staring up at him with large eyes. "So, you can speak English."

"I'm five years old!"

"Is that so?" Where were Davy and Micky when you needed them?

"What about you, mister?"

The tall Texan crossed his arms. "Twenty three."

Her eyes impossibly grew wider. "Wow! You're old!"

"Can I please have my hat back now?" Mike asked, ignoring the "old" remark.

The child slowly took it off and looked longingly at it, "Okay." before handing it back to him. "But take good care of him!"

He nodded, put his wool hat back where it belonged, and then sat on the floor. For some reason he suddenly felt so tired. The girl stood still for a minute, and then sat next to him, her legs outstretched in front of her as she banged her feet together repeatedly. Even though Mike wasn't into Buddhism - he was a Christian Scientist - he still found the room very peaceful, and he began to feel more relaxed then he had in a long time as he listened to the kind of echoing silence you can only get in spacious rooms like this.

"Tamaki was fun." The little girl said suddenly.

"Who's Tamaki?" Her silence told him that she was the girl they had found. "Oh."

"We ran around a lot. And she fed me."

"Was she your mother?" Mike asked, remembering all of the wonderful childhood memories he had.

"I don't have one."

"Sorry to hear that." He meant it. He grew up without a father, but he couldn't imagine a life without a mother to love and take care of you.

"Mike!" Davy called out as he ran into the room. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"I was just here," Mike rubbed the top of the little girl's head. "talking to my new buddy."

"I see you got your hat back." Davy said while trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah. Did you get anything from that priestess chick?"

"Nothing." He admitted. "But she did tell us to patrol tonight. And I don't think she'll take no for an answer."

"That's fine. It will give us time to investigate the area. And I've got some research to do."

"On what?"

"On that Tanya ghost person."


	5. Ambush

"Haven't you found anything yet?" Davy asked the Texan, who was sitting at one of those small tables with piles of paper surrounding him. "It's already getting dark."

Mike moved from one sitting position to another. "How can they stand sitting on the floor for so long?"

"Have you found anything yet?" Davy repeated as he stifled a yawn.

"Huh?" Mike looked at him as if just now noticing that Davy was there. "Uh, yeah. A little."

"So is that chick that's been haunting you this Tanya girl?"

"Yeah, I think so. Here it says that Tanya came here with a guy named Richard. That's the name she's been calling me."

Davy's thick eyebrows lowered and scrunched together as he made a shrugging motion. "Why?"

"I haven't really had the chance to ask her." He answered, with a hint of sarcasm. "All I do know is that she thinks I'm her fiancée."

"Maybe she's trying to pass on. You know, making up for something she did." The young Brit shrugged again. "Or she's just crackers."

"Hmm." Mike answered, his eyes glued to the paper he was holding, before putting it down. "I think I need to ask the police some questions."

"Police? They came all the way out here?"

"It says right here that they did." Mike thoughtfully crossed his arms. "How can we make contact with them?"

"You could send one of us to deliver the message."

Both Mike and Davy jumped and let out a scream when they saw that Chika was sitting only a few inches away from Mike before he said, "Don't do that!"

Chika placed her hand over her mouth and laughed. "I would think you would be used to it by now."

"Can you send a message to the police?" Mike asked, getting to the point. "The same ones that investigated Tanya's death."

"Of course we can." She said with a smile. But then her lips stuck out and she thoughtfully looked off to her right. "But are you going to be here that long?"

"What do you mean?" Davy asked.

Her wide grin returned. "It will take two days to get information to them, and another two days to get a reply."

Mike let out a sigh. "Don't you guys believe in telephones?"

"How long are we going to be here?" Davy asked. "We weren't planning on staying here, but we've been here almost two days."

"Okay," Mike said while moving the papers off of the table. "Can I please have a pen and piece of paper? I need to send some mail."

"For the police?"

"Yeah, but also that guy that hired us. He should know that we're going to be late."

* * *

The moon crept into the night sky as the Monkees uncomfortably let the girls place armor on their legs, chests, arms and heads. But it wasn't like any armor they had ever seen. It wasn't like Medieval armor that was made of heavy metal made for reflecting off swords and the occasional dragon or giant. This stuff looked like it was made of bamboo and grass, which it was, and the helmets were like oddly shaped bowls that almost covered their eyes. Lastly, after everything was on them and the stray grass began poking them where ever it could, the Monkees were handed wooden swords. In the end, they all felt like awkward trees.

Micky tried to scratch his back, but to no avail. "Why do we have to wear these things?"

"For protection." One of the priestesses straightened his helmet. "Whatever is attacking us will try to eat you as well."

"Lovely." Micky said with an eye roll.

"We're going to be eaten?" Peter's armor began to shed as he shook in his boots.

"No we're not, Pete." Mike reassured him. "Besides, we've got him outnumbered."

"What if we don't outnumber him?" Davy asked. "What if there's more out there?"

"We'll figure that out when we get there." He announced bravely before beginning to march toward the forest, where the high priestess had told them to patrol and look for whoever or whatever had killed Tamaki.

"They're so brave!" One of the girls said as she and her two fellow priestesses watched the Monkees go.

"I feel like we're in feudal times and we're saying goodbye to our husbands as they head for battle." The second said.

The third blushed. "They are very cute."

"Stop it." The first girl laughed as she waved her hand at them, her sleeve flying gracefully, before pushing the two other girls toward the temple. "This isn't a manga."

They all laughed together gleefully and gently pushed each other forward until they saw the high priestess walk toward them. Upon seeing her they wiped the smiles off of their faces, stepped aside so that they were all side-by-side, and then bowed their heads. "Good evening, high priestess."

At first the high priestess stared at them with unblinking eyes until she turned toward the trees. "Have they left yet?"

"Yes, high priestess!" The third girl said a bit too loudly. When she noticed this she cleared her throat before continuing. "They just did."

There was a long pause before the high priestess said, "You are dismissed."

The three girls bowed deeper before rushing off toward the temple, happy to be out of there and eager to go to their room. Where they could look out the window and wait for the boys to come back. As they did, the high priestess kept her eyes on the trees, which began to sway with the wind, and then she let a smile creep upon her face before walking away.

* * *

It was dark among the trees that surrounded the Monkees, as you can imagine, and the four musicians tried their best to let their eyes adjust. As they did they listened to the sounds of animals they had never heard before and their boots stepping lightly on the forest floor. They did as instructed and stayed close enough to see or hear the river and waterfall, so that they would not get lost, but they still felt like they were in another world, with no one to keep them company except themselves and a monster that was probably eyeing them from far off, with a napkin wrapped around his neck and holding a fork and knife.

"This is ridiculous." Mike suddenly stopped, causing his friends to bump into him one at a time. "There's probably nothing in this forest that we should be worried about."

"I'm sorry to break it to ya," Micky said. "but we did burn a half eaten corpse this morning."

"She was alone when it happened. If we stick together, we've got nothing to fear."

"HOW COULD YOU!"

Mike turned around in time to receive a slap to the face. "What was that fo-" He stopped when he saw that it was Tanya, who was angrily looking up at him as tears flowed freely down her pale face.

"I thought you loved me!"

"I don't love you, I don't even know you." Mike told her, trying to talk some sense into this ghost that has been popping up.

"SHUT UP!"

Micky tried to look over his leader's shoulder. "Who are you talking to?"

"You're going to pay for what you did to me!" Tanya shouted before running deeper into the woods. "I hate you!"

"Come back!" Mike shouted at he chased after her, hoping to get some answers out of her.

His friends quickly chased after him, wondering why Mike was talking to himself and then suddenly ran off without them, and when Mike came back in sight, something black suddenly collided into him and caused Mike to land on the ground. It took him a moment to realize that on top of him was a dark creature with no eyes and a large mouth, filled with sharp teeth. But before the creature could do anything, the other Monkees charged toward it, with Micky and Davy swinging their swords and Peter telling it to get off of his friend. Their shouts distracted the creature long enough for Davy to quickly hit its shoulder as hard as he could, causing it to screech in pain and jump back into the darkness, where it disappeared. But they didn't stop to celebrate. The monster could come back and finish the job. Maybe even with his buddies! They helped Mike get up and then ran back the way they came, not wanting to stick around. But after a minute or two Mike turned back, grabbed his wool hat - which had fallen off when he was knocked down - and then joined his friends as they ran for their lives.

When they were sure that they had made it far enough, they all stopped to catch their breath as they tried to figure out what had just happened. Was that what attacked and killed the priestess? Probably. But they still didn't know what that thing was. Hopefully the priestesses back at the temple would be able to tell them something that would lead to its identity. After they were able to breath normally again, the Monkees all began walking, hoping to reach the temple in one piece.

As they did, Micky walked alongside Peter. "He could have died."

"But he didn't." Peter said, not wanting to think about it.

Micky was quiet for a moment as he hit his shoulder with his wooden sword. "Hey, Pete. Do you think I don't care?"

Peter looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Micky rolled his hazel eyes and swung his sword as he tried to find the right words. "Do I seem like I don't care? Like when that chick got fried?"

"Well,"

"Because I do care!" Micky said quickly, cutting his friend off as he held his hand up defensively. "Believe me, man, I do. I just don't..." Again, he tried to find the right words. "I just don't express it well. I always get the urge to say something funny and make everybody laugh when something like that happens. I don't know why, it's just how I react. You know?"

"I know." Peter told him and smiled. "It's fine, Micky. You've always been that way."

"Not always." Micky said quietly before walking on ahead.

As Peter wondered why Micky's mood suddenly changed, they all saw that they were almost out of the forest. Just a little further and they would be free. Free and far away from whatever had attacked Mike.

"I smell something good." Micky said as the aroma of cooked food hit their noses.

For a moment they let what happened slip from their minds as they followed the scent and listened to the three girls call out to them from their window. It didn't take long for them to find the room, the smell now almost overpowering to their empty stomachs, and they slid the door open with such force that they were afraid they might brake it. Inside was a large room, filled with priestesses who were sitting down with small plates that held fish, rice, and other yummy treats. The girls all smiled as some grabbed their arms and led them in. The Monkees felt like they were in Heaven. But as they were brought in, the Monkees saw the high priestess - who was sitting alone on the other side of the room - her eyes wide and her mouth ever so slightly ajar. She quickly changed her expression and looked away upon realizing that they were looking at her, but it was too late. They knew the truth now. They knew that she was surprised that they had made it back alive, and she had wanted them to die in the forest.


	6. Sunset

"Now I think they just like it when we dress up."

Davy's three band mates didn't answer while they tried to put on the kimonos they were given the moment they had woken up. As they did, the Monkees could feel their masculinity slowly fading. What man in his right mind wore flower print bathrobes? But after thinking about it, they knew better than to protest upon realizing that they did wear flower print shirts back home.

"What are you looking for, Micky?" Peter asked, noticing their drummer looking through his kimono thoroughly.

"Just making sure she didn't put a bomb in it or something."

Davy quickly dropped his clothing and then let out a heavy sigh. "Why don't we just leave, Mike? It's obvious that we're not wanted."

"Of course we're wanted." Micky said. "We're wanted in a casket."

Davy threw one of the floor pillows at his friend. "You're crackers."

"We can't leave yet." Mike told them. "First we have to find out what happened to Tanya."

"Didn't she try to kill you?" Micky asked as he threw the pillow back at Davy.

"We're not even sure it was even her. It was dark."

"I miss the pad." Peter admitted.

"We all do." Mike said as he put his kimono on. "But I think something happened to that girl."

"Yeah, she turned into a ghost." The curly headed boy put his kimono over his head and made ghost noises, which scared Peter.

"I'm serious, man. I think she's trying to tell me something important."

As they finished getting dressed the door slid opened to reveal Chika, who was holding up a lantern. While the Monkees were happy that she didn't sneak up on them like she usually did, they still didn't like being around her. Especially Micky. "Are you ready?"

"Like a mouse to a trap." Micky told her in his James Cagney voice before they all followed Chika and her lantern.

Outside all of the priestesses were wearing different colored kimonos and throwing beans at the temple while shouting, "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" After doing so they all took a handful of beans and began eating them. The Monkees just stared at them, wondering if everyone had lost their minds. But of course, anyone would go crazy after all the things that had been taking place lately.

One of the priestesses saw the four boys, smiled, and then ran over to them. "How old are you?"

"Huh?" Davy asked.

"It's part of setsubun."

"What's Sets you bun?" Micky asked before rubbing his stomach. "Whatever it is, it's making me hungry for a bun."

The priestess laughed. "Setsubun is a festival. We through beans and say 'Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi' to ward off evil spirits. And after you say those words you have to eat the same number of beans as your age. So," she clapped her hands together and smiled sweetly. "How old are you?"

They told her their ages and she gave them each the right number of beans and a small bag full of the stuff for throwing before running off to be with her friends.

"Now what?" Davy asked as he looked inside the bag he was given.

Micky took a deep breath, took a handful of beans, and then threw them as he shouted, "Ooka gabby funny itch!"

At first all of the girls around them stared at Micky strangely and then they slowly began walking away from them.

Mike placed his hand on Micky's shoulder. "I don't think that was right, Mick."

After that little incident, they asked how to properly saw the words and soon enough they were saying them with ease and throwing beans with everyone else. Although Peter began feeling sick when a group of the girls brought a bunch of fish heads and began burning them. They explained that it was all part of the festival, but it didn't make Peter feel any better. But he soon calmed down when some of the priestesses built a bonfire and brought out some drums. At first Mike and Davy thought that Micky was going to embarrass himself again when he took one of the drums to play himself, but the girls seemed to enjoy it and soon enough the rest of the Monkees decided to get their own instruments to play for them. Soon everyone was having a good time.

But while he was playing, Mike noticed that the little girl who loved hanging around him didn't look too good. She was sweating, her face was red, and she was hugging her body tightly. And after thinking about it, he realized that she wasn't doing well all day but had thought that maybe she just had a cold from running around outside all day. But now it looked like something serious could be wrong with her. Mike stopped playing and walked over to the little girl. "Are you alright?"

The little girl nodded, but her face told another story.

He held out his arms to pick her up, but Kinu grabbed his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just going to put her to bed. I think she's sick."

"I'll do it." Kinu quickly picked the girl up.

"I can do that."

"I said I'll do it!" Kinu snapped.

Mike was taken aback but let her take the girl away without saying anything else. After all, everyone was a bit on edge, so he understand why she might be feeling a little touchy. Even though the back of his mind kept wondering if the little girl was okay he tried to enjoy the rest of the evening, which wasn't hard. The girls told them fascinating stories from Japan's history and crazy folklore that made them both laugh and make their hairs stand up in fright, they danced around the fire with a group of priestesses and showed them how they did it in America, and while the girls taught them some basic Japanese, the Monkees told them how to say "groovy" and "far out" and other hippie words. Before they knew it, the fire had died down and the smell of fish heads was fading into the cold evening air.

The high priestess clapped her hands twice. "It is late. Everyone get to bed. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow."

Everyone began yawning as they sluggishly headed back inside. But before any of them got to their rooms, they all heard a blood chilling scream coming from the second floor. Some of the priestesses ran into the closest room while covering their heads while others ran into one large room and came out with katanas and bows and arrows before heading bravely upstairs.

Davy looked back and forth between where the two groups of girls went. "What do we do?"

"Run?" Micky suggested.

Mike froze when he remembered about the little girl and Kinu. What if it was their scream? What if they were in trouble? For a moment he stumbled around when he tried to find the nearest phone booth to change into only to remember that there wasn't one. Finally, after calming himself down, he began running toward the temple. But he didn't get far before something black jumped from the second floor and onto the ground in front of him. It was the creature they had encountered last night! But now he could see it clearly in the fading light. It was shorter than him, black from head to toe, stringy hair that reached its ankles, wore a torn kimono that hung limply on its scrawny body, had two large eyes that were almost entirely white, a mouth that traveled up past its ears, and the lifeless body of Kinu was being crushed by the creature's bloodstained teeth.

It stared at Mike for a long while, cocked its head to one side, and then dropped the dead priestess, letting the body hit the ground with a loud thud. Mike didn't know if he should run, fight, or throw up. As he stood there, his three friends ran up and hid behind their leader, also unsure what to do, when the creature let out a scream that sounded like a cross between a roar and a woman's cry.

When it was quiet again Micky covered his nose. "No offence, but you need a breath mint."

It screeched again and the four musicians were just about to run for their lives when the priestesses appeared with their weapons. Three of them shot arrows at the creature as the fourth came forward with a sword, let out a war cry that echoed in the Monkees' ears, and then slashed the monster's arm. Blood sprayed across her face as the creature howled in pain. But before she could deliver the finishing blow, it retreated and disappeared into the woods. As the four girls followed after it, the Monkees stood there in silence.

Micky raised up his arm. "All who want to go home say 'aye!'"

Both Peter and Davy also held up there hands and said "aye" before all three of them headed toward their room, wanting to grab their stuff and head back home. Even if they had to swim back!

* * *

"You're not leaving already, are you?" Chika asked with a smile as she watched Peter, Davy and Micky grab their things and stuff them into their backpacks.

"Maybe getting attacked by monsters is your kind of thing," Micky said, "but we like staying alive with all of our limbs attached."

Chika let out a sigh that didn't sound sincere before turning her attention to Mike, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "And what about you? Are you alright with leaving?" She waited for an answer. When he didn't say anything she continued. "Don't you want to see if your little friend survived? Although it's highly unlikely."

Mike closed his eyes for a moment and then looked at his friends. "We can't leave yet."

"You must be crackers!" Davy said.

Micky got up and stood in front of their leader. "You can't expect us to stay here after what happened!"

The tall Texan shrugged slightly. "But she's right."

"You can't listen to this chick!" Micky flourished his arm in her direction, only to find that Chika wasn't there anymore. He looked around, but she had disappeared from the room without them noticing.

"I want to know what happened to her, too." Peter said, talking about the little girl that was now missing. "But I don't want any of you guys to get hurt either."

"This isn't our battle." Micky said as he placed a hand on Mike's shoulder. "We weren't supposed to be here in the first place. So we should just head out and pretend we were never here."

Mike was silent.

"First it was the ghost and now the little girl." Davy said. "How many distractions do you need before we can leave this place?"

Mike didn't want to leave. He wanted to find the little girl and find out if that thing really was Tanya. He had doubted it before, but now he wasn't so sure. He was chasing after her in the forest when he was attacked. And he remembered everything began going crazy after her watched her fall off the railing and disappear. Maybe they should leave. Tanya's ghost was obviously attached to him somehow. She kept calling him Richard and appeared only to him. Maybe leaving would make the ghost leave also. Maybe it would lose interest in killing people. Besides, he didn't want any of his friends ending up like Kinu.

"Alright." Mike said finally. "We'll pack up and go."

* * *

"Are you coming?" Micky asked when he saw that Mike was staring at the trees where the creature had run off.

"Yeah." After adjusting his backpack, Mike followed his friends toward the waterfall. Where they had met Kinu. Memories of that day flooded their minds and a part of them wanted to go back and at least stay long enough to attend her funeral, but it would just be another distraction keeping them there. But they promised that they would never forget her as they walked on, hoping to get to their original destination this time.

"Richard!"

Mike stopped and a cold chill traveled up his spine. It was her again. Tanya.

"Richard." He turned around, and sure enough, the ghost in the white kimono ran toward him with a look of great concern on her face. "I'm sorry, but . . . I have to tell you something important."

"I don't want to hear it!" Mike told her. "I'm leaving and I want you to leave those girls alone!"

"Is it her again, Mike?" Davy asked as he and the rest of the Monkees walked toward him.

"Please listen to me!" She said urgently. "Those priestesses. They're not what they seem."

"What do you mean by that?" Mike asked, forgetting for a moment that he was mad at her.

"The high priestess, and a few others. They . . ." She paused for a long moment. "I'm sorry. It's nothing." She forced a smile and then tenderly grabbed Mike's face. "Please meet me at the top of the waterfall and I will explain everything." Before he could answer, she gave him a kiss and then slowly dissolved into thin air.

"What happened, Mike?" Davy asked.

"I'm sorry, guys." Mike looked toward the waterfall. "We have one more place to visit before we go."


End file.
